Ya know, Martha's Home Depot ornaments aren't as pretty in person...

So, yesterday, my oldest was having a shitty bad day, so instead of making her wait 2 hours and right the school bus home (she's an 'early out'), I picked her up.  Normally, she'd just drive home, however, last week, a few unmentionable acts occured, to which she's not allowed to use her vehicle this entire week for pleasure or school, as a punishment.  I picked her up and we started home and I decided to pull into the Home Depot lot and check out Martha's new 'shatter proof' ornaments that Kevin Sharky helped display and show off the other day on the show (yeah, I know, I talk like I know them or something, rofl).  Anyhoo, the shitty bad day was my excuse, because I knew that as soon as we got home, she'd go upstairs to her computer and I wouldn't see her for the rest of the day.  It turns out, I was right, because she instantly saw a shiny hot guy that made her shitty bad day not so bad anymore.  So after pressing all the buttons to make the dry-snow globes play music, we checked out Martha's new Christmas ornament line, and I was horribly surprised.  I mean, Martha, seriously????  you approve of less than perfect workmanship such as that?  They're defintely NOT as shiny, NOT as pretty, NOT as precise with the detailed painting, and NOT something I would want to spend money on.  I know...sad, right???  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

See?  don't these look like they'd be pretty?

Well, they weren't...actually, they looked a bit 'tacky,' believe it or not!

suppose to have glitter on the whites...not so much sparkle at all.

I had high hopes for those Tiffany Blue balls...blech, now that I saw them in person!


Now, the new Martha's Project Paint????? THAT is a comPLETEly different story!  We, of course, had to follow Shiny Guy around for a bit in the store (eh, it made her feel better, and it wasn't like I don't enjoy looking at fun project stuff in a hardware store, so I appeased her), so I headed for the paint aisles.  Now, Martha has paint, of course, gallons that you can buy, and now they have small 'sample' containers of the same paint that you can buy to see if it's what you want to use (or for small projects).  The lady pointed to where I asked, and she was giddy about them herself, lol and proceeded to give me the flyer of the the workshop that Home Depot is doing tomorrow night (Thursday, 11-10) around the US (participating Home Depots, times may vary by store) where they're going to do projects with Martha's Project Paint...I'm in!  I am SO going tomorrow night for this workshop.  Our's is from 6:30 - 8 pm, it's free, and you get to play with Martha's new paints!!!!  they have GLITTER paint...they have CRACKLE GLITTER paint! YESSSS, they DO!  They have her special paints that she likes to make her faux boui (or however she spells it) (fake wood) designs with.  She even has kits now that has the wood grain rocker in it ($5.99! seriously!) and other doo dads for projects. 

Ah, Martha, you surprise me sometimes...sometimes, eh, not so much! lol

UPDATED: Not ONE person better wish me a Happy Birthday!!!

That's not very nice, is it?  To not want to be wished 'happy birthday?'  The thing is, I didn't turn 30 easily.  I grew up fast, I made sure of it, but that didn't mean that I liked birthdays, and I don't...my own, that is.  I think I just hurt my husband's feelings because of this, and I'll have to go make amends for that, but don't you think that my wishes for my own birthday should mean something?  If ask 'no party' then I shouldn't have to endure a party in my own honor, one that I've been saying for over a year 'seriously, people, I mean it!'  If I ask, 'no gifts, I don't want anything for or on my birthday or anytime that is to celebrate the date of my birth this year' then I should have those wishes, don't you think?  I'll be celebrating the 2nd anniversary of my 39th birthday this year...tomorrow, actually, so you can figure out what age that is.  I do not want to be that age...I didn't want to be 30, so why the hell would I want to be 40???  I just caught my girls and hubs whispering under their breath to each other, and I know what that means...they have a prezzie or surprise that they're discussing or trying to hide.  I said, 'ya'll, I've been saying, I want NOTHING for my birthday except a normal day, and I mean it.  Do NOT wish me a Happy Birthday, do not give me a gift, don't even mention what the day is!'  I mean it so much, that even if my hubs comes in with a new $600 Coach bag, I'll be upset, not happy or surprised, but livid, to the point of pissed, because it's MY friggin birthday and those are my wishes!  I'm trying to save people money and the hassle of having to remember a birthday, to the point you don't even have to write it in your 'dates to remember' book, give it up already and take MY gift to YOU and forget about it....grrrrrrrrrr.  btw, thank you blogging bestie for my Bath and Body Works surprise package!! lol And all of this is probably why you had it sent to me LAST week instead of this week, lol  but I also know that you won't call, text, email, tweet, or blog me a 'happy birthday' tomorrow, lol  and THAT'S why you're my bloggin' bestie  ;)

Seriously, I can NOT be the only one in the world that feels this way.  Do ANY of you sympathize with me about this?  it's just so frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


UPDATE:  yes, I went downstairs last night and the hubs had a gift...he brought it in from the car and it was a HUGE Coach gift bag, with a HUGE Coach gift box w/ribbon in side.  I instantly burst into tears, because I told him I wanted NOTHING, and if I wanted nothing, then I defintely wouldn't want him to spend hundreds of dollars on me for a bday I didn't want to celebrate when we have bills that need paid, and he knows these were my wishes.  Ya know what he said???? Those rules and wishes don't apply to husbands.  yep, that's what he said.  So, my wishes only matter when someone wants to abide by them, but not when they want to say it doesn't apply to them? He got me a lafge Coach Tartan that he ordered weeks ago and they had to get it from Detroit because no one in St. Louis carries it yet.  So how am I suppose to be mad at him for that?  So he said, 'happy Monday' when he gave it to me....ok, well, tomorrow's Wednesday, wtf am I gonna get for THAT day??? lol

Happy Halloween!!

Am I the only that's NOT in the Halloween mood???

Seriuosly.  I'm not the least bit in the mood to decorate or even HAVE Halloween this year.  The pumpkins I made and posted about below??? those are literally the ONLY  Halloween/Fall decorations that I have going on at my house right now, with the exception of some real pumplins and guourds outside.  Plus, with Halloween on a Monday this year, we can't fully install our haunted cemetery, because the girls have school the next day and the hubs has work and I have pt, which means we don't want to have to spend all night undecorating (we have old hags and 'insert not so nice name calling terms here' as neighbor, therefore our decoractions must be taken down the night of Halloween).  We already drive that 'insert expletive name calling terms here' neighbor crazy at Christmas, rofl.  We like to get the most of our outdoor lights, install them not so long after Thanksgiving and we turn them on every night up to New Year's Day, rofl  that old fart HATES us, rofl, but we have a blast annoying him, and he can't do anything about it...but Halloween?  he complains and then the city whines to us that he's wasting their time complaining...instead of them growing a 'set' and telling him to shut up, they say 'we'll talk to them about it.'  And if we don't do it, he continues to complain to them.  I finally said, 'am I breaking any ordinance?' they say ' no, but it's being an nuisance to the 'expletive' So WE say, 'if ain't in writing stating that we're breaking an ordinance, we ain't doin' it!' HA!! that'll learn him, lol.

what was I sayin???  oh, not in the Halloween mood...yeah, I'm not.  Am I the only one?  I just can't 'get' in the mood...it doesn't help that my kids are half grown...one turns 18 on Friday, the other turns 13 in 2 weeks, and they hate trick or treating.  The 13 yr old has refused to trick or treat since she was 8, and the oldest hasn't been since she was about 11 or so, they just don't like it.  They dress up still, but that wears off about an hour into Halloween night, lol and then they all go inside and leave me outside w/the fire pit and trick or treaters all by myself, while they sit inside watching scary or haunted movies, eating big bowls of my annual pot of chili...and I'm alone, outside, in the cold, in the dark, ughhhhhhhhhh.  Plus, my bestie and her boys always come up, and since they all have work and school the next day, so they don't get to come hang out  :(   so, with all this, I am just NOT in the mood for Halloween this year.  But, I'll wish that you all are, and that you have a safe, enjoyable Halloween fun night!!!

CLOSED! Christmas Records Keeper/Tracker Giveaway w/TWO winners!

I've had these for a couple of years and haven't used them, I'm still on my first one, so I thought I'd share with a giveaway.  I have TWO of these Christmas Records Keeping/Tracking binders up for grabs.  They have a section for Christmas Cards sent/rec'd, presents, thank you's and parties and MORE!  If you like to keep track of those kinds of things so you know who gave you what so you don't re-gift something to the same person, or keep track of who sends you cards each year, then one of these Records keepers for YOU!  Super easy giveaway, will end Nov. 6 at 11 pm CST.

Disclosure:  This giveaway is not affiliated with any company, site, or promotional campaign.  The prizes above were bought and paid for, and provided by myself/Administrator of Lavender Cove.

MY version of Country Living's Toile Decoupaged pumpkins!

Last week or so, I done a post about the cover of this month's Country Living magazine with the photo of a pumpkin that was decoupaged with toile.  I got my copy in the mail and read that they used a toile FABRIC.  I have many types of toile fabric, but I really didn't want to use it.  I was afraid of the decoupage medium causing issues with the 'sizing' of the fabric and after awhile it wouldn't look quite right (just paranoid, didn't want to have wasted my resources or time), so I decided to look into it.  My challenge in that post, was to NOT spend ANY more than $2, not to have any of the supplies already (with exception of the modge podge).  So, what did I do?  I went to my local Dollar Tree.  I found several types of pumpkins...


the front 3, and the one on the far left behind the 1st row, were all $1 at Dollar Tree
the back 3 were a few that I got on sale at Joanne's and Hobby Lobby

So, I decided to use the larger pumpkin on the right and this roll of adhesive shelf paper to make my own version of the decoupaged pumpkin.  I cut them in strips to apply them, since the pumpkin is a round object, I knew I couldn't just wrap it and be done.

So I started applying them, then quickly realized that I needed to actually cut the strips to a point, so I cut from the lower right corner in a straight line up to the upper left corner, and continued to apply the strips.




When it was finished, I had a wild idea to add some sparkle, but only had some pink on-hand, lol  I didn't want to get up and dig out the fairy dust (it was a lazy moment).  So here's the final product:



it's final resting place....so far!

Total cost:  $2

~~~~~

Pumpkin Project #2

NEXT, I was pumpkin decorating happy, and continued with the two smaller pumpkins (in the above, 5th pic up) that were a dollar.  I wanted a couple of cute pumpkins that would  fit in with my mercury glass candle holders.  I'd seen a few silver metallic pumpkins at Hobby Lobby, but even 40% was more than I wanted to pay, so I decided to make them.




I took the stems out and put them on top of a shoe box, outdoors.

The pumpkins were each $1 and the metallic spray paint was $3 after my 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby.  Total cost:  $5 for 2.

Here they are with some of my mercury glass decor items.  How do they look?!

~~~~~~~~

Pumpkin Project #3

My final pumpkin project was with a small Funkin that I got at Joanne's Crafts for 57% off, so it was just $3.47, and 10"X10" piece of tissue paper that I'd gotten on after-Halloween-Clearance at Walmart last year in the card section (never forget that section during the Halloween clearance sales), it's Hallmark even.  I'm not counting that into the cost of this project, because I already had it AND it was only a small pc out of the 5 large sheets in the pkg.

This was a simple decoupaged project using Modge Podge.  First, it's tissue paper on a surface that was a bit slick, so I knew I'd have to put some of the medium on the pumpkin to get the tissue paper to stick.

After putting some Modge Podge on the pumpkin, I'd smooth the tissue paper over the spot, and did this all around the pumpkin.  Then I took a dry brush and smoothed out some of the bubbles, trimmed the top around the stem and attached the tissue down with more Modge Podge and smoothed it, then trimmed around the bottom and did the same to flatten it.

Final product:

I haven't quite decided where I want to put it yet, tho.

3 pumpkin projects to total 4 pumpkins for Fall vignettes for only $10.47!!

Pics from the Cake Demo I participated in on Saturday...

lots and lots of baking during the week, too!!

First, before you tell me how 'gaudy' my 2 tiered cake is, lol, know this ONE thing: they put us in the front of the Hobby Lobby store, less than 20 feet fromt he constantly opening and closing doors, which meant that the humidity was higher than I thought it would be...heck, I didn't realize there'd be ANY humidity, since we'd been in the back of the store a back room working for 2 days, where it was literally freezing, which is perfect for cake decorating.  So with the high humidity, NONE of our icing would allow us to make buttercream roses, or even other buttercream 'stand-up' flowers.  Which meant, my design went OUT the window and I had to design on the fly, and in front of lots of strangers.  I had no coordinaing fondant colored in the correct pink, so I had to use what I had to use.  The very top tier, isn't so bad, except I broke the gumpaste tiara more than 5 times, rofl...and had to fix it.  The last time I broke it, I literally dropped it on the floor and pearls and stones went everywhere.

So, you saw the gems that I made earlier this week in like 2 posts below.  They were too big to put too many on the tiara, so I only used 4.  Then tucked more into the border.  The off-pink flowers? ugh.  THAT was one of the biggest on-the-fly things I had to do...with the wrong color.  It was suppose to be a trail of tall roses, white tipped in pink, and smaller solid pinks, trailing down the side of the cake, but since we couldn't make roses, I tried putting gems around the cake...didn't work.  So we had to improvise, so I made molded flowers, in the WRONG fondant (which was the only pink I had made, because I didn't plan on even using it), grr.  So, THAT is why the cake is so GAUDY, lol and doesnt' even look like it matches. 

Normally, my cakes don't look this guady, I promise, lol.  Then, I made some mini-cupcakes that I handed out to little ones, whos parents loved having kids walking around the store with icing all over their face and hair, lol.   OH, btw, the roses and carnations that you DO see on the cake (there's 4), are made of gumpaste that I'd made a good while back for practice, and when my cake didn't turn out so well because of the non-roses (ugh), I had my hubs bring them to the store I so could use them...the cake definitely needed some height, and tipped them in pink luster.